Stem Cell Therapy: A Secret Weapon for Pain Relief

Back pain affects more than 75 million adults in the United States. If you’re one of them, you know how debilitating it can be and how it keeps you from your favorite activities. 

Your spine is a complex structure of vertebrae, soft tissues, discs, tendons, and more. It’s designed for mobility and to provide support so you can stand tall.

At Premier Spine Institute in The Woodlands and Humble, Texas, Dr.  Bonaventure Ngu is a spine specialist with 18 years of experience in helping patients find pain relief. He does this through multiple modalities including epidural steroid injections and stem cell therapy.

Stem cell therapy is a revolutionary treatment that holds the potential to relieve pain when nothing else works. It uses special cells to repair damaged tissues and reduce inflammation, stimulating healing. 

What are stem cells? 

Stem cells are the shapeshifters of the human cell makeup. They can morph into muscle cells, cartilage cells, or whatever you need to stimulate tissue repair. For example, if you suffer from chronic lower back pain, and you’ve tried physical therapy, massage, and other pain relief methods but still struggle, your stem cells may help you find relief. 

How do stem cells work? 

There are multiple ways to use stem cells, but in adult back pain cases,  Dr. Ngu often takes them from your bone marrow and injects them into the site of your pain. You can think of them as the body’s natural repair professionals. When released into your bloodstream, they evaluate the problem and transform into the right cells to heal your body.  

Stem cell therapy focuses on healing the root cause of pain instead of addressing the pain symptoms. For example, one common chronic back issue is degenerative disc disease. It’s caused by your vertebral discs wearing away, leaving little cushioning between your vertebrae. The bones can rub together, causing inflammation and pain. Stem cell therapy can promote cartilage growth to create new cushions and even generate new discs.

While it’s early days for such treatments, the results are promising. Overall, stem cells reduce inflammation, stimulate new tissue growth, and repair damaged tissues. This can significantly decrease your pain and may save you from invasive surgery.

In some cases, people feel relief after undergoing stem cell therapy within just a few days, but most need up to six weeks for the new cells to replace the injured cells. 

If you’re in The Woodlands or Humble, Texas, areas, you can book an appointment with Dr. Ngu at Premier Spine Institute to see if stem cell therapy is right for you. Schedule your appointment online here.